You know you take golf seriously when you start thinking about your game as soon as the first blade of grass peeps out from under the snow. Yet there’s no need to wait for the greens to get in shape before doing the same with your swing.

How fit do you need to be to swing a golf club? According to Melanie Scrase, an athletic therapist and certified golf fitness instructor at S.P.O.R.T. Specialists in Dorval, golf places very specific demands on your body. And without the fitness to meet those demands, not only will your game suffer, so will your ability to spend your retirement years out on the links.

“Not every golfer wants to work out,” Scrase said. “But they all want to play golf.”

Golf done well takes its toll on the body (just ask Tiger Woods, who missed the Masters due to back surgery). Golf done poorly can force you off the links permanently. So if you love golf, the best way to improve your game is take a good look at what your body can and can’t do and then work on turning those weaknesses into strengths.

Scrase says the source of most golfers’ frustration with their swing is a lack of mobility, and not just in the shoulders and hips, which is where most golfers focus.

“You need mobility in all joints,” she said. “Ankle, neck, shoulder, back, wrist; if even one of those joints has limited mobility, it will affect the swing.”

Scrase does a series of physical tests on golfers to determine their range of motion as well as any other physical weaknesses before creating an individualized exercise plan. And while she admits that exercise can’t improve all physical limitations, she quotes what the Titleist Performance Institute has to say about the golf swing.

“We don’t believe there is one way to swing a club; we believe there are an infinite number of ways to swing a club. But we do believe that there is one efficient way for all golfers to swing a club and it is based on what they can physically do.”

The goal then is to get your body in the best possible shape to swing a club, understanding that most swings need to be adjusted to accommodate individual limitations. The fewer the limitations, however, the easier it is to build a good swing, even if it’s not technically perfect.

Fortunately, not all golfers need an individualized fitness plan to improve their game. Scrase says most people can realize a significant improvement by performing five specific exercises before heading out on the links.

The exercises are geared to loosen joints most often affected by too much time spent sitting at a desk or in a recliner. They’re also designed to reduce the stiffness that often accompanies those first few swings of the day. All of the exercises can be done standing up and involve moving multiple joints at the same time, just like the golf swing itself.

The idea that a good warm-up can improve your game has some science behind it. Several studies have compared golfers who warmed up to those who didn’t, with most finding that warming up improved golf scores.

One study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, asked 10 golfers to perform a golf specific warm-up five times a week for seven weeks. Another 10 golfers headed off to the first tee with no physical preparation.

Right off the bat, the golfers who warmed up registered improvements in their club head speed. The golfers who failed to warm up didn’t benefit from any boost in performance.

But that’s not all. Club head speed of the golfers continued to improve over the seven weeks of the study, suggesting that there was a cumulative effect of warming up before every game, similar to that gained from regular workouts. Again, there were no similar improvements among the golfers who didn’t warm up.

So the best thing you can do to get your body ready for the golf season is start now. Perform the following exercises five days a week and continue the habit until the course closes for the winter. You’ll see results when you step on the course for the first time this season and, if you’re loyal to your warm-up, continue to feel and perform better all season long.

Hip flexor stretch: Stand with one leg in front of the other and lower the back knee tilting your pelvis forward while contracting the glute of the back leg using your golf club for stability, if necessary. Hold for 10 seconds. Return to starting position. Repeat 3-5 times per side.

Standing lat stretch: Stand with your back against the wall, positioning your feet about six inches from the wall and hold a club in your hands, resting it on your thighs with palms facing out. Keeping your back against the wall and without arching your back, raise both arms overhead and touch the wall, keeping the arms parallel to each other. Hold for two seconds. Return to starting position. Repeat 15 times.

Standing golf club rotations: Hold a club horizontally in front of the body with one hand at each end and assume the address position. Pull in your belly and rotate your torso lifting the club up and backward until you feel a stretch. Return to starting position and repeat on the other side. Move from side to side 20 times starting slowly and progressively picking up the pace.

Romanian deadlift: Stand tall with feet hip width apart and hold a golf club with the club positioned horizontally and your arms extended down in front of the body. Pull in your belly and lower the club down the thighs, bending from the hips (don’t round the back) until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings (back of the thighs). Keep a gentle curve in your lower back through all phases of the exercise. Return to the starting position. Repeat 12 times maintaining a moderate pace.

Lateral leg swings: Stand on one leg using the wall or a golf cart for support. Swing the outside leg out to the side and then across the front of the body. Repeat 15 times per leg, keeping the swinging leg loose (don’t tighten your muscles) with a soft bend at the knee.

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